Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
It's not speculation. Every other platform gets paid for carrying channels, but for some strange reason, this is not the case for VM (except the shopping channels, I believe). As UKTV don't pay other platforms for carrying their free channels, why should VM subscribers pay for mostly repeated content funded by advertising?
---------- Post added at 11:39 ---------- Previous post was at 11:36 ----------
VM should not be paying for free channels. This practice is a hangover from the past.
A bit like the UKTV channels, actually. 
---------- Post added at 11:43 ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 ----------
Not sure if your memory is failing you, but those were the days when Sky did have good programmes on it. In fact, the main draw of people to the pay tv channels was Sky TV.
UKTV has nowhere near as much clout and they will lose this fight. The sooner they realise that and climb down from their high horses, the sooner they will bleed less money.
They had better move fast, or Virgin will be reinvesting their money, hopefully in superior content.
---------- Post added at 11:50 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------
They will get over it. And if you think you are safe with Sky, remember that they almost lost the Discovery channels a few months ago.
Fortunately, Discovery saw sense. UKTV are trying it on. The people complaining are simply dragging this dispute out. If they quietened down, UKTV would be forced to re-consider. I am not expecting VM to give in over this, so the ball is in UKTV's court. Are they going to continue to discriminate against VM by making them pay for their free channels when other platforms get them free, or not? |
Incorrect. On every other platform the FTA broadcasters have to pay someone for distribution, capacity and an EPG allocation,
not for content.
This is also the case for VM, but made more complicated by the fact that they are the sole provider of distribution, capacity and the EPG on the cable platform. These costs where VM has agreed to pay for content will either be netted off or taken into account when negotiating carriage costs. By law, however, the EPG fee must always be clearly shown as a quantifiable transaction for every channel.
With the removal of Quest HD, Premier Sports going back to a frozen screen this morning and VM Ireland customers losing access to their UKTV recordings (despite being promised a three month grace period), could this be a contender for the worst week ever for VM?